通识教育及其功能——一种以“研究意义”为起点的逻辑考证

The Role of General Education and Curiosity-driven Research

我国当下的研究在起始之时,往往会预设一个"研究意义",但是,真正的原创性研究或重要发现并不是从寻找外在意义开始,而是源于人的好奇天性对未知世界的探索精神。通识教育是一种有别于专业教育的具有自由特征的教育,可以保护和提升人的求知天性,并通过培养整全的人而提供去外在意义的功能。

Most of the educational research in China today is conducted to fulfill certain pragmatic purposes.Nevertheless,truly original research usually does not start with any extrinsic purposes,but derives from the natural curiosity of human beings,i.e.the desire to explore the unknown.Different from specialized education,general education is liberal rather than vocational.It tends to nurture and enhance students' curiosity,aiming at the cultivation of the whole person rather than the fulfillment of extrinsic purposes.